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iPhone 5 and the NFC Chip Rumor: What is it? What does NFC do?

If you never had to handle money, credit cards or wallets again, would you? What if a trip to the grocery store meant no coupons or store cards but you got the same great savings every time?

Sniffing out the rumors on NFC chips in iPhone 5

Near field communications, or NFCs, allow contactless communications between devices. Devices like Smartphones, store scanners or tablets carrying the NFC chip simply need to be in range of each other to instantly exchanged date. Using radio waves, the technology is based on a reader sending instantaneous information to a compatible NFC chip.

Are you getting the implications? NFC devices could effectively eliminate the need for cash, tickets, wallets and, well, in theory, any scannable payment or coupon.

To make a payment, any payment, you’d just need to scan your Smartphone at checkout. Entering the subway becomes a breeze when you just hold up your phone. Giving allowances? No problem when you get your iPhone business phone in range of the kids and activate one little button. Wow, right?

The rumor of the iPhone 5 containing an NFC has been enough to send techies into a tailspin of excitement. The world’s most popular phone equipped with a state-of-the-art technology that hasn’t even been perfected yet is more news than most of us can handle – even from a company that, arguably, makes the best small business phones.

Enthusiasts speculate, based on a December 2007 patent application, that Apple just may be throwing out a surprise NFC announcement with the new phone. The patent was specific to a “touch screen RFID reader,’ which, if you’ve been following the whispers down the lane, seems to leave this whole discussion wide open for discussion.

Other sources feel strongly this couldn’t possibly be the case. Metal backed phones interfere with radio waves, for one. Also, more accurately, a few of the more astute techies have determined that the current size of the NFC chips wouldn’t fit in a slim little iPhone 5. Consensus, in fact, seems to rule out any surprise NFC attacks.

Undeniably, NFC technology is super cool. Not just modern, it’s completely feasible to consider never having to buy a ticket from a slow-moving conductor again or eliminating the over-burdened key chain of its dozen plus shopper cards. All we can commit to, however, is that when NFC does become available in iPhones it’s going to be epic … the rest are just rumors.